News

Judge rules assistant controller can run for top post

Challenger's legal challenge denied

After more than four hours of hearing legal arguments, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge on March 24 cleared the county's assistant controller, Juan Raigoza, to run for the controller's post in June despite a legal challenge of his qualifications.

Joe Galligan, a former Burlingame councilman and mayor who now will face Mr. Raigoza on the June ballot, filed a lawsuit on March 11 questioning whether Mr. Raigoza met the legal qualifications for the controller's job.

On March 12, Judge George Miram ruled that Mr. Raigoza must submit documentation of his qualifications to Elections Officer Mark Church, who was also named in the lawsuit, so that Mr. Church "may properly exercise (his) discretion and determine whether Mr. Raigoza is qualified" to hold the post; alternatively, Mr. Raigoza was allowed to argue his case in court.

That's what happened in Judge Joseph Scott's courtroom on March 24, and Judge Scott found that "Mr. Galligan had not met his burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Raigoza was not qualified," according to Glenn Levy, deputy county counsel. "The consequences of these findings was to leave Mr. Raigoza on the ballot," Mr. Levy said.

Neither Mr. Galligan, nor his attorney, Dennis Zell, could be reached for comment for this article.

Posted by Frank Fortunato
a resident of another community
on Mar 24, 2014 at 7:15 pm

Mr. Galligan has just wasted San Mateo County taxpayer dollars on a frivolous losing lawsuit to subvert the democratic process. Why anyone would vote for this glorified Turbotax jockey is beyond comprehension. Galligan, whose only qualification is that he is a tax preparer with a CPA, lost in his effort to disqualify his only opponent for County Controller, Juan Raigoza, the current San Mateo County Assistant Controller.

How can Mr. Galligan claim to have the best interests of San Mateo County taxpayers and voters at heart, when he wastes our money in a brazen attempt to subvert the electoral process? I hope the voters hand Mr. Galligan an overwhelming repudiation at the polls in June for his shameless and cynical lawsuit. Let's see if Mr. Galligan doubles down on his disgusting tactics and appeals his well deserved defeat in this lawsuit.

Mr. Juan Raigoza, on the other hand, is an inspiring testimonial to the American Dream: Web Link He is clearly the only qualified candidate to run the Controller's office.

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